TWD - Unbelievably Good Chocolate Blueberry Ice Cream

This week our fearless leader Laurie of Slush chose Dorie's Unbelievably Good Chocolate Blueberry Ice Cream. Now I love chocolate ice cream and blueberries but I have to admit I wasn't sure about this combination, especially when it involved mixing ice cream with jam!

As it turned out though, after forgetting to buy any blueberry jam (no really! I did forget!) I subbed in frozen blueberries and ended up with the most luscious chocolate ice cream punctuated by sharp icy berries. Delicious!

It took hubby a little while to hunt down our ice cream maker. We moved in to this house over a year ago and it never really got unpacked. This has reminded me just how good homemade ice cream can be and I foresee a whole lot more being made this summer!

You will find the recipe for this amazing ice cream on Laurie's blog under today's date.

Christmas Baking Craziness

I know I'm not alone in overcommiting before Christmas. I love to make lots of homemade goodies for the family and to give as gifts and between all that and regular baking and bringing cakes etc for Christmas parties I will be spending many, many hours in the kitchen!

This is what I am making this year:

- 2 x christmas cakes (one is gluten free this year for my dad)
- a full-size traditional steamed plum pudding
- a batch of mini fruitcakes
- a peach tart
- a chocolate marquise cake
- choc peanut butter slice
- cranberry cookies
- chocolate peanut butter cheesecake
- a frozen christmas pudding
- sugar cookies to decorate with the kids

I know in a few years that list will blow out even further when we'll be baking gifts for teachers too.

We are having a Christmas eve dinner at our place for close family this year and have finally decided on a menu. I'll be doing a pineapple and brown sugar glazed ham, a boneless, butterflied roast turkey, potato bake and salads with plum pudding and custard for dessert. Yum!

And then we'll be rocking up to do it all again on Christmas Day AND Boxing Day!

Luckily Christmas only happens once a year!

What are you baking this year?

Tuesdays with Dorie - Earl Grey Madeleines

Well it's officially the last month of Tuesdays with Dorie. I haven't actually posted a TWD recipe for a while although I have been quietly baking along at home. Now we're really on the home stretch I couldn't miss out and will be baking and posting everything for this month in spite of the craziness that is December!

This week Nicole of Bakeologie chose Dorie's Earl Grey Madeleines. (I will be baking the Honey Fig Tart in a few weeks time for an early Christmas lunch).

You'll notice from my photo that I haven't used a Madeleine pan, basically because I don't have one and couldn't justify splurging on a pan I will only use very occasionally (ha! look at me all grown up and responsible now that I have 2 little mouths to feed!). I used a patty cake pan instead and I think they look lovely.

While I quite enjoy Earl Grey tea I decided to use a tea I picked up at T2 on my recent trip to Melbourne. T2 is a chain of specialist tea stores with the most divine range of teas and associated paraphernalia. I bought a couple of vareties but by far my favourite was the Ginger Spice, a black tea flavoured with ginger, cinnamon, orange and vanilla. Really yummy and fragrant and just perfect for these little cakes.

Photo from www.t2tea.com

I let the batter rest overnight in the pan so it was ready to put straight in the oven the next morning. I thought being so cold it would need an extra few minutes baking but actually these were done (overdone in fact) at the 10 minute mark. Still really tasty and with a lovely perfume from the tea, just slightly drier than they should be. Pity.

I'm sure they won't last long though. I will pop the rest in the freezer and can see myself grabbing one for a yummy snack with my afternoon cuppa. Thanks for a great pick Nicole! You can find the recipe on Bakeologie under today's date.

Charlie turns 1

Hard to believe but on 8th November my baby Charlie turned 1! Which means Oscar is now 2 and a half. Which makes me ... well never mind!

Charlie has brought us so much happiness over the past 12 months. All those wonderful firsts - smiles, laughs, rolling over, sitting, standing and just in the last week, those amazing first steps. He's such a different little personality from his brother too, much more independant and a real daddy's boy.

Hubs and I are both only-children so we had no idea what to expect with 2 little ones. While we are certainly busier now and a for a while got a lot less sleep, having 2 kids is awesome. Can't wait to see what the next year brings for both my little men.


Here are a few photos of the birthday boy and his cakes (yep, cakes plural)!

A basic chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing and decorated with white chocolate buttons. I made this for his actual birthday.

First ever taste of cake. Yum! Just watch the sugar coma setting in ...

Finger licking good!

The kite cake from p11 of the Women's Weekly Kids' Birthday Cakes cookbook. A basic buttercake with buttercream icing tinted in red, leaf green, violet and lemon yellow. A little rough around the edges but with 2 birthday cakes a year from now on, there's plenty of chance to practice!

At his birthday party in the park.
'whaddya mean no more cake till next year?!'

I'm still here! ... and gluten free chocolate chip cookies

Wow, so it's been a whole 5 months since my last post. I have to say 2011 has completely gotten away from me and now it's nearly Christmas! After a few years of regular baking and blogging I guess I just needed a break. I know my waistline and bank account did too! But with TWD soon coming to an end it's definitely time I checked back into the bloggy world.

We've had a few health hiccups this year and a forray into food intolerances. The boys and I have all seen an allergist and had skin prick tests done. The boys were all clear (which is good and not so good since I am convinced that Oscar has a few food sensitivies that maybe will never show up on a test) and I am only allergic to dust, pollen and cats.

Regardless I am baking with a few more alternative ingredients and trying out some gluten-free and lactose-free products. I made these chocolate chip cookies a few weeks ago and they were absolutely to die for! Hubby had no idea they were gluten free until I told him and honestly they disappeared so fast I had to grab a photo of the lowly last one. Enjoy!


Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from a recipe on Nellbe's Gluten Free Kitchen Table

115g melted butter, cooled
1 egg
1 ts vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat over to 180 degrees C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Whisk together melted butter with egg and vanilla extract until combined. Combine gluten free flour, sugar and choc bits in a large mixing bowl. Add butter mixture and mix well. Press mixture, 1 tbsp at a time, into balls. Place on tray and allow room for spreading. Press each cookie down slightly and cook 12-15 mins until golden. Cool on trays for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

These were fabulous warm out of the oven. Once cooled they settled into crispy-around-the-edges-but-still-chewy-in-the-middle deliciousness.

Next post - Charlie turns 1!